A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.

Borrowers who defrauded lenders by lying on their mortgage application could be thrown in prison for up to 30 years and forced to pay a $1 million fine under the current federal law. But the FBI says there is no intention to pursue borrowers at this time.

Almost 60 percent of stated-loan applicants inflated their incomes by at least 50 percent, according to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute. The worst part is that everyone knew the income was being inflated. The industry even had a name for these kinds of loans--'liar's loans.'Letter to the Editor - Arizona Republic

No housing 'bubble' bursting in the ValleyMay. 27, 2006 12:00 AM

I see an awful lot written about the real estate "bubble" bursting, but I've yet to see evidence of this happening in Phoenix.I'm buying a home in Buckeye, a town that has seen a 4 percent increase in sales this quarter compared with the same time last year and where price appreciation has increased every month during the past three months.

In the overall Phoenix market, inventory is up more than 10 times year-ago levels; prices are up 70 percent over 2004 levels; yet sales dipped only 7 percent in the first quarter of 2006. Is this evidence of a bubble bursting? I think not.

- Sonny Shrivastava, Tolleson

The new homeownersBy Nicholas P. Retsinas (idiot at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies) July 8, 2007

CONGRESS, presidential candidates, and lots of Americans may be giving a tepid welcome to the immigrants settling into America's neighborhoods -- some illegally, most legally. But the housing industry should be sending a welcome wagon. And every baby boomer hoping to sell his home in the next decade should be embracing these newcomers, for they will constitute an increasing segment of the home-buying, apartment-renting market. According to University of Southern California demographer Dowell Myers, immigrants and baby boomers must "forge a new social contract." The Garcias and Nguyens are buoying the housing industry.

I am scared shiffless.I am running to walmart to stock up on rations.anyone noticed the amount of walmart babes sporting coach bags.must be a real bitch to have to shop at walmart.I mean all those dirty people who got subprime loans roaming the isles.

Jose and Veronica must be arrested and deported immediately along with their , by now, multiple anchor babies. They are felon invaders and must be punished as such. Their bank account to be seized and asets confiscated to help abate the fees and costs pf shipping them back to Hell where they crawled from.

Did you see the realtor with that insane left eye twitch. Like he would say the word 'lying' and then his left eye would involuntary twitch? Something out of the movie Casino Royal... I'd like to play poker with that realtor.

Here I am in Thailand where foreigners who pay tax, contribute to the the society, and hold gainful employment are forbidden from owning land under Thai law. Yet the US offers mortgages and homes to illegals? It's time to march against this injustice.

Where do you get off accusing the "NGUYENS" as being part of the illegal demographic defrauding our country? I've seldom heard of Vietnamese illegals in this country so where do you get your information from? You're an ignorant and racist fool

Aha, the fools! As soon as the laws to ban them are penned, they will just disappear. All the FBI agents work for free. All the immigration agents work for no pay. None of the law enforcement agents need a place to live, nor do their families, so they don't need to take out mortgages.

What planet are people living on nowadays? Must be on the same planet where doctors and nurses work for free as soon as the government mandates free healthcare for all. Paying for warfare and police state is even worse than paying for a welfare state. Any time you do something against people's free will, it costs money . . . money coming out of your own pocket and paying for institutions of violence-and-coercion that can easily be turned against yourself. They whole "legal" vs. "illegal" paper distinction is ridiculous. If the person has an income that can pay for mortgage and wants to have a house, let the bank take the risk and lend him money. If the bank's judgement turns out to be faulty, let the bank eat the loss in foreclosure/bankruptcy. As simple as that. Taxpayer involvement in any form, whether subsidizing the bank or banning the transaction are both quite unnecessary.

Given the demographics of baby boomers retiring and how enormous of our trade deficit is, we as a nation probably does require some foreigners to buy whatever bubble asset they fancy owning in this country, just to offset the trade imbalance. Mitsubishi and Sony lost tens of billions of dollars with their real estate and entertainment purchases in the US nearly two decades ago; that meant millions of cars and electronic gears had been shipped to the US for free. A decade ago, Mercedes-Benz bought Chrysler for a premium and subsequently lost over $40 billion . . . that's equivalent to a million luxury cars given to Americans for free!

We still have to figure out what worthless crap that we have that might interest the Chinese and Indians (not to mention Mexicans for their oil export to the US). The sovereign wealth fund investments that cost them billions worked (for us) but only for a little while before burning them a little too badly too quick. Perhaps sucking them into catching the falling knife in real estate directly in the US just might be the ticket. LOL. Cash purchase a $300k house, and get a green card! That just might be the ticket for sucking in a ton of US dollars from overseas without having to pay them interest or printing up more dollars and cause inflation for the rest of us.

" Reality said... Aha, the fools! As soon as the laws to ban them are penned, they will just disappear."

I like your thinking. How about the "Illegal Alien Mexican Felon Invader Bounty Program of 2009-10".

Eliminate the Red Tape and Remember: to make an omlette you have to break a few eggs...

Mistakes will happen. That is why we will give the illegal mexican felons a one-time 90 day amnesty program to leave the country voluntarily at their own expense, No Questions Asked, No Hard Feelings, just Adios, Muchacha.

All health care facilities to require valid US ID for treatmet. Any doctor treating illegals no matter what the circumstances loses license permanently and goes to work for the Bushco regime in Paraguay... Np Appeals allowed.

Then the bounty program takes effect and all bets are OFF...

Bye bye Juan and Rosa and the anchors. We are broke in US and never really liked you anyway... We have plenty of unemployed GM workers named Malcolm to rake leaves and carry cement and stand in front of Home Depot.

Dial 1-800- John McCain and ask for the amnesty department. You may be re-connected to a friendly ICE officer and the call will be traced immedeiately... or maybe you will get connected to City Hall in Wasilla, Alaska. You see, Juan, Its a gamble, just like swimming the RioGrande or breaking in at Laredo...

Nicholas Retsinas and the guys at UCLA Anderson should lose their jobs.These SOB's were laughing at anyone predicting problems and now they're being quoted everywhere and acting like they predicted the whole thing.I keep news articles and I have them at both ends of those debacle.Shameful.Actually, completely shameless might be more appropriate.

Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens even if there are only 7 to 8 million illegals are in the US? Close to 70% of all illegals are therefore "property owners"? LOL!

I agree with you 100 per cent. These illegals come over here and act as if it is their God-given right to break federal law. I say give 'em all two tacos each, and haul off and kick their asses back to their respective countries.

I am sick and tired of all this bullshit about how we are supposed to accomodate these leeches/illegals. And, I don't give a shit what people think about me or my opinion on this. And, they can take their "anchor" brats back, too. Sorry ass bunch of law-breaking sponges is what they are.

And, let's not forget the sorry ass employers who hire these sleazebags. They should have a penalty for the employers: A non-stop, five minute taser session - full powered.

In the past year or so that I've frequented this blog, I've not noticed any mention of the Community Reinvestment Act, which, along with groups like ACORN, played a fairly big role in the current crisis.

This article sums up the situation concisely: http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo125.html

It seems that an argument can be made for government regulation having been the cause of this crisis. If we need more government intervention it's only because of government intervening in the first place.

There is absolutely no doubt that illegal aliens are an important cause of the housing crisis and the world financial meltdown.

The illegals came here to America and served as the source of labor to build all of these useless houses. They also purchased these houses. I'm a bit dubious of the 5 million figure in this article but I'm sure it was significant. Banks like Bank of America set up special mortgage programs for them. Other banks followed. All the banks were encouraged or hounded by the govt. and groups like ACORN to make loans to illegals. The illegals even went on to flip and speculate houses.

I know of one situation (based on a discussion with a taxi driver from Ghana) where an illegal from Ghana purchased a bunch of homes, cashed out for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then went back to Ghana...never to be seen again. Get it? He went back to Ghana with our demand deposits...the money we put into our savings accounts.

The illegals would never have been able to buy these houses in the first place had the government not mandated the lowering of lending standards in order to cater to subprime borrowers. The illegals simply took advantage of a system that was already in place.

Also I wonder what percentage of illegals actually default on their loans compared to American subprime borrowers. The illegals at least usually stuff several families into one house, making it easier for them to make the payments. And they do tend to have jobs.